War and the cultural cringe
(or, is President Bartlet losing his Sheen?)

Okay, so I may feel belittled and marginalised by the Australian in my views on Iraq. But at least no-one’s arrested me for the peaceful expression of an anti-war view – by wearing a t-shirt in a mall.

Nor has anyone suggested that expressing my views as a private citizen are irresponsible and unpatriotic, though I’m not a celebrity protester – which might be why.

(And if US celebrities have vast personal power and are capable of abusing it by commenting on the war – why are they having so much trouble placing their ads on commercial networks?)

And when it comes to plain weird cultural gestures, banning that universal high point of “French” cusine, French fries is clearly the way to go – and certainly not as silly or petty as the “hamburgering” of French cars that went on in Australia during French nuclear testing in the Pacific.

As one Congressman has said over the introduction of “Freedom Fries” and “Freedom toast” to the Capitol’s cafeteria:

"Making Congress look even sillier than it sometimes looks would not be high on my priority list."

But he’s just some wimpy New England democrat like President Bartlet.

(See Beth over at fridaysixpm on the nature of language in this, and Neil Gaiman on why the English have dibs on being mindlessly snooty to the French.)

No, I am not peddling a line that the American people are mindless super-patriots. I think I have consistently tried to keep separate my views on Bush and my views on the American people. And, as I’ve noted, Australians behaved pretty stupidly during French nuclear testing. In fact, loss of trade cost me my job as a “French” waiter during first-year uni. People are just jumping aboard the zeitgeist in insecure times. (And the imperial, triumphalist tone of Australia's neo-conservatives and its breathtaking ability to ignore or marginalise dissent hardly makes Australia a model free-thinking society at present.)

But let's face it, war is always a great time for satirists, so full of inanity and contradiction.

So, get a serving of blog-dissent from the USA here. Strange how anti-war commentators are funnier …

There's those who understand progress is an illusion, Towlie; and those who resist by expressing thier views firmly, but fairly.

And of course, there’s always The Onion.